Coin machine

ABSTRACT

Improved mechanism to transfer rolls of coins wrapped in shrink film from the wrapping station to the heat shrink station and further to the coin elevator by means of a rotary transfer drum which securely holds the rolls of coins during transfer thereof.

United States Patent 11 1 [111 3,717,940

Wylie et al. [4 Feb. 27, 1973 [541 COIN MACHINE 3,572,491 3/1971 Wylie..198/26 Inventors: Richard D Wylie, f y Bobby 3,597,852 8/1971McCollough ..'....34/236 Morrison Spartanburg both ofs C 3,603,4799/1971 Kuster et a1. ..198/210 I 3,618,743 11/1971 Behatar ..198/210[73] Assignee: Deering Milliken Research Corporaspartenburg, PrimaryExaminer-Carro11 B. Dority, Jr. 2 Filed; May 3, 1971 Attorney-Norman C.Armitage, H. William Petry and Earle R. Marden [21] App1.No.: 139,457

[57] ABSTRACT l. 4, 9 1

[52] U s C 34/236 53/18 improved mechanlsm to transfer rolls of 60111551 Int. Cl ..F26b 19/00 Wrapped in Shrink film from the pp Station to 53Field f Search 53 1g4; 19 /210 25; 34/23 the heat shrink station andfurther to the coin elevator 219/388; 221/219 by means of a rotarytransfer drum which securely holds the rolls of coins during transferthereof.

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,126,682 3/1964 Krance..53/184 X 11 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED FEBZ 7191a saw 20F 2RICHARD D.WYL|E BOBBY MORRISON BY M. R. M

ATTORNEY COIN MACHINE In the packaging of coins in shrink film it isnecessary to transfer the coins wrapped in shrink film to a heatingstation in order to form a compact wrapped roll of coins. To attainmaximum efficiency it is necessary that such operation be automatic sothat one operator can operate more than one machine.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide apparatus toautomatically transfer coins loosely wrapped in shrink film to a heatingzone to shrink the film down around the coins to form a compact roll ofcoins.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become clearlyapparent as the specification proceeds to describe the invention withreference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the new and improved coin rolltransfer mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a blown-up view of the coin chute and roll transfer;

FIG. 3 is a view taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a view taken on line 4--4 of FIG. 1 showing the transfer ofthe coin rolls from the transfer mechanism to the elevator conveyor;

1 FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the cam employed to separate the rollholders at the entrance to the transfer mechanism; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the transfer drum cleat which supportsthe rolls of coins.

Looking now to FIG. 1, the new and improved coin roll transfer mechanismis generally denoted as reference numeral 10. Rolls of coins l2automatically proper position and remain in such position as the coinloosely wrapped in shrink film by a coin wrapping machine (not shown)are delivered to the coin roll transfer mechanism via a suitable chute14. The coin rolls 12 are rotated past a pair of electric heaters 16whereat the shrink film shrinks down around the coins to form a compactpackage. From the heaters 16 the coin rolls 12 are delivered to aplatform 18 where they roll into a position between the cleats 20 of theelevator 22 and are carried upwardly thereby to a packaging stationwhere they are either placed in a box or a bag for delivery to thecustomer.

The coin transfer mechanism 10 and the coin elevator 22 are driven by amotor (not shown) which has a shaft 24 on which is mounted a sprocket 26which drives sprocket 28 through an endless chain 30. Sprocket 28 inturn is mounted on a shaft 32 on which is secured another sprocket 34which drives the endless chain 36 to rotate the sprocket 38 to drive theelevator 22 in an endless path. The sprocket 38 is mounted on a shaft 40on which is also mounted the sprocket 42 which drives the endless chain44 to rotate coin transfer mechanism 10 through the sprocket 46 mountedon thecoin transfer mechanism shaft 48.

The coin transfer mechanism 10 basically consists of two aluminumcircular plates 50 and 52 mounted on the shaft 48 and a plurality ofcoin roll support cleats 54 (see FIG. 6) secured between the plates 50and 52 by suitable screws 56. The cleats are so designed and spaced fromone another so that the roll of coins 12 is supported on the rearslanted portion 58 of one cleat and the front slanted portion 59 of thenext adjacent cleat. It should be noted that the rear portion 58 isslanted at a greater angle than the front portion 59 to ensure that thecoins from the chute 14 drop into the mechanism 10 rotates in thedirection indicated by the arrow in FIG. 1. i

The coin transfer mechanism 10 has a plurality of lever arms 60pivotally connected to the circular plate 50 at 62.and spring biasedtoward the plate Why a spring fixed at one end by anchor 64 in the plate52 and fixed at the other end to a' stud 66 secured to the lever arms60. A plate member 68 is welded or otherwise secured to the outside oflever arms 60 and supports a cam follower 70 therein by means of a nut72.

Secured in circular plate 52 is a plurality of pins 74 secured thereinby set screws 76 which cooperate with pins 78 slidably mounted incircular plate 50. Pins 78 have a cut out portion 80 slidably held ingroove 82 in the top of lever arms 60.

For reasons hereinafter explained, cam members 84 and 86 are mounted tothe frame of the coin transfer mechanism and cooperate with the camfollowers 70. The cam members 84 and 86 are generally of the shape shownin FIG. 5 wherein both ends 88 and 90 0f the cam bend backwards awayfrom the plane 92 of the center portion.

OPERATION As described briefly before, a roll of coins 12 looselywrapped in shrink film is delivered into the coin chute 14. From thecoin chute 14 the roll of coins drops into the space between adjacentcoin roll support cleats 54. Connected to the chute 14, but not shown,is a weighted gate, such as that shown in US. Pat. No. 3,572,491, whichretards the movement of the coin roll into the coin roll transfermechanism until an approximate space rotates into the correct positionunder the coin roll chute 14. Prior to the dropping of the roll of coins12 from the chute 14 into the aforementioned space, the lever arm 60adjacent the space to be occu pied has been pivoted outwardly by theengagement of the cam follower 70 with the portion 88 of the cam 84. Asthe coin transfer mechanism 10 is rotated further to the position wherethe coin roll 12 will be dropped into the space, the lever arm 60 willbe pivoted all the way out against the bias of spring 64 by the portion92 of the cam to allow the coin roll 12 to drop into the space betweenthe pins 76 and 78. Then as the coin roll mechanism continues to rotate,the cam follower 70 will ride down the cam portion 90 of the cam 84allowing the spring 64 to pivot the lever arm inwardly towards thecircular plate 50 to allow thepin 78 to engage the end of the coin roll12 to secure it in position between the pins76 and 78. At about the sametime the weighted roller 94 pivots to the coin chute 14 at 96, rollsacross the top of the coin roll to tamp the individual coins in thepackage and to seat the package properly in the space between adjacentcleats 54.

The coin transfer mechanism 10 continues to rotate in thecounterclockwise direction to rotate the coin rolls 12 toward theelevator 22 past the heater 16 to shrink the film down around the coinsto form a compact coin roll package. As the coin rolls approach theelevator after the film has been shrunk the cam follower 70 engages thecam 86 to pivot the lever 60 outwardly to release the roll of coins andallow it to fall onto the platform 18 so they can roll toward theelevator 22 and be carried away by one of the cleats 20.

It can readily be seen that we have provided a coin roll transfermechanism which is simple in design and efficient in operation toautomatically receive loosely wrapped rolls of coin and transfer suchcoins past a heating station to shrink the film down around the coins toprovide a compact roll of coins.

Although we have described in detail the preferred embodiment, it iscontemplated that other advantages and modifications will become obviousto those skilled in the art and therefore we desire to be limited onlyby the scope of the invention as defined in the claims.

That which is claimed is:

1. A coin roll transfer system comprising: a means to supply coin rollsloosely wrapped in shrink film to said system, a means to convey rollsof coin from said system, heating means between said supply means andsaid conveying means to shrink the shrink film down around said coinrolls, a substantially circular coin roll transfer means rotatablysupported between said supply means and said conveying means, meansrotating said coin roll transfer means to transfer coin rolls from saidsupply means past said heating means to said conveying means, said coinroll transfer means including a means to hold the coin rolls in positionduring transfer, said coin roll holding means including a plurality oflever arms pivotally mounted to said substantially circular coin rolltransfer means and having a pin operably associated with the coin rollsduring transfer thereof, said lever arms being spring biased and saidcoin roll holding means further including a cam follower on said leverarms and a first cam means on said coin roll transfer means to pivotsaid lever arms against the spring bias.

2. A coin roll transfer system comprising: a means to supply coin rollsloosely wrapped in shrink film to said system, a means to convey compactrolls of coins from said system, heating means between said coin rollsupply means and said coin roll conveying means to shrink the shrinkfilm down around the rolls of coins, coin roll transfer means rotatablysupported between said supply means and conveying means, said coin rolltransfer means including two substantially circular plate members spacedfrom one another, means operably associated with said plate means tosupport a roll of coins therebetween, means rotating said coin rolltransfer means to transfer coin rolls from said supply means to saidconveying means past said heating means, said means supporting a roll ofcoins between said plate members including a lever arm pivotally mountedto the exterior of one of said plate members and having a pin memberengaging the roll of coins-during transfer thereof.

3. A coin roll transfer system comprising: a means to supply coin rollsloosely wrapped in shrink film to said system, a means to convey compactrolls of coins from said system, heating means between said coin rollsupply means and said coin roll conveying means to shrink the shrinkfilm down around the rolls of coins, coin roll transfer means rotatablysupported between said supply means and conveying means, said coin rolltransfer means including two substantially circular plate members spacedfrom one another, means operably associated with said plate means tosupport a roll of coins therebetween, means rotating said coin rolltransfer means to transfer coin rolls from said supply means to saidconveying means past said heating spring biased and said coin rollsupporting means further includes a cam follower on said lever arm and afirst cam means on one of said plate members to pivot said lever armagainst the spring bias.

6. The structure of claim 5 wherein said spring bias is exerted by aspring means connected to one of said plate members and extendingthrough a space between said plate members and projecting through anopening in the other of said plate members and being connected to saidlever arm.

7. The structure of claim 6 wherein said coin roll transfer meansfurther includes a second cam means adjacent said conveying means topivot said lever arms against the bias of said spring to release thecoin rolls from said pin.

8. The structure of claim 3 wherein said means supporting a roll ofcoins between said plate members includes a lever arm pivotally mountedto the exterior of one of said plate members and having a pin memberengaging the roll of coins during transfer thereof.

9. The structure of claim 8 wherein said lever arm is spring biased andsaid coin roll supporting means further includes a cam follower on saidlever arm and a first cam means on one of said plate members to pivotsaid lever arm against the spring bias.

10. The structure of claim 9 wherein said spring bias is exerted by aspring means connected to one of said plate members and extendingthrough a space between said plate members and projecting through anopening in the other of said plate members and being connected to saidlever arm.

11. The structure of claim 10 wherein said coin roll transfer meansfurther includes a second cam means adjacent said conveying means topivot said lever arms against the bias of said spring to release thecoin rolls from said pin.

1. A coin roll transfer system comprising: a means to supply coin rollsloosely wrapped in shrink film to said system, a means to convey rollsof coin from said system, heating means between said supply means andsaid conveying means to shrink the shrink film down around said coinrolls, a substantially circular coin roll transfer means rotatablysupported between said supply means and said conveying means, meansrotating said coin roll transfer means to transfer coin rolls from saidsupply means past said heating means to said conveying means, said coinroll transfer means including a means to hold the coin rolls in positionduring transfer, said coin roll holding means including a plurality oflever arms pivotally mounted to said substantially circular coin rolltransfer means and having a pin operably associated with the coin rollsduring transfer thereof, said lever arms being spring biased and saidcoin roll holding means further including a cam follower on said leverarms and a first cam means on said coin roll transfer means to pivotsaid lever arms against the spring bias.
 2. A coin roll transfer systemcomprising: a means to supply coin rolls loosely wrapped in shrink filmto said system, a means to convey compact rolls of coins from saidsystem, heating means between said coin roll supply means and said coinroll conveying means to shrink the shrink film down around the rolls ofcoins, coin roll transfer means rotatably supported between said supplymeans and conveying means, said coin roll transfer means including twosubstantially circular plate members spaced from one another, meansoperably associated with said plate means to support a roll of coinstherebetween, means rotating said coin roll transfer means to transfercoin rolls from said supply means to said conveying means past saidheating means, said means supporting a roll of coins between said platemembers including a lever arm pivotally mounted to the exterior of oneof said plate members and having a pin member engaging the roll of coinsduring transfer thereof.
 3. A coin roll transfer system comprising: ameans to supply coin rolls loosely wrapped in shrink film to saidsystem, a means to convey compact rolls of coins from said system,heating means between said coin roll supply means and said coin rollconveying means to shrink the shrink film down around the rolls ofcoins, coin roll transfer means rotatably supported between said supplymeans and conveying means, said coin roll transfer means including twosubstantially circular plate members spaced from one another, meansoperably associated with said plate means to support a roll of coinstherebetween, means rotating said coin roll transfer means to transfercoin rolls from said supply means to said conveying means past saidheating means, said coin roll support means including at least two cleatmembers connected to said plate members and spaced from one another toprovide a space therebetween to accommodate a roll of coins.
 4. Thestructure of claim 1 wherein said coin roll transfer means include asecond cam means adjacent said conveying means to pivot said lever armsagainst the spring bias to release the coin rolls from said pin.
 5. Thestructure of claim 2 wherein said lever arm is spring biased and saidcoin roll supporting means further includes a cam follower on said leverarm and a first cam means on one of said plate members to pivot saidlever arm against the spring bias.
 6. The structure of claim 5 whereinsaid spring bias is exerted by a spring means connected to one of saidplate members and extending through a space between said plate membersand projecting through an opening in the other of said plate members andbeing connected to said lever arm.
 7. The structure of claim 6 whereinsaid coin roll transfer means further includes a second cam meansadjacent said conveying means to pivot said lever arms against the biasof said spRing to release the coin rolls from said pin.
 8. The structureof claim 3 wherein said means supporting a roll of coins between saidplate members includes a lever arm pivotally mounted to the exterior ofone of said plate members and having a pin member engaging the roll ofcoins during transfer thereof.
 9. The structure of claim 8 wherein saidlever arm is spring biased and said coin roll supporting means furtherincludes a cam follower on said lever arm and a first cam means on oneof said plate members to pivot said lever arm against the spring bias.10. The structure of claim 9 wherein said spring bias is exerted by aspring means connected to one of said plate members and extendingthrough a space between said plate members and projecting through anopening in the other of said plate members and being connected to saidlever arm.
 11. The structure of claim 10 wherein said coin roll transfermeans further includes a second cam means adjacent said conveying meansto pivot said lever arms against the bias of said spring to release thecoin rolls from said pin.